What causes Tinnitus and why is there no way to treat it?

One from my Quora post bag…

Head injury, hearing loss/damage, medication side effects, loud noise exposure, cochlear synaptopathy (hearing damage which does not show up on a test) are the main causes of tinnitus.

There’s currently no definitive cure for tinnitus, partly due to difficulty in understanding how and where it arises. For instance, ~85% of people will spontaneously develop tinnitus if you place them in a soundproof room.

Tinnitus is so easy to get, so natural to people (and animals) with ears, it’s not going to be easy to cure. It can still be perceived if you have your auditory nerve severed, so even that is not a cure!

Since psychological factors influence how intensely and frequently you perceive the tinnitus signal, psychological treatments are the current focus of most research. And they have helped so many people lessen the severity and impact of tinnitus.

Sally Jackson BSc RHAD MSHAA

Audiologist & Clinical Lead at Hearing and Tinnitus Care, West Yorkshire